It is with sorrow that we announce the passing of our husband, father and grandfather, Howard Kennedy. He will always be remembered as someone who cared tremendously for his family, who always seemed to know how to fix anything, and a man who’s word you could always trust. Howard had a tremendous love of sports. He grew up on a farm just outside of Colinton, Alberta and went to school in Colinton and later in Athabasca for high school. It was growing up on the farm where Howard developed his work ethic and his handyman skills. After high school, he worked in Athabasca at Landing Motors before being the first of his family to make the move into Edmonton for work. That is where he met his future wife, Betty, and raised his family.
Howard spent his entire career working for only 2 companies, Landing Motors for 2 years and then Waterloo Mercury/Ford in Edmonton for 44 years. Needless to say, he always drove a Ford or Lincoln. He drove many thousands of miles travelling around North Central Alberta and Edmonton selling automotive parts. He could always remember the names of the businesses, the owners and often what types of parts they usually ordered even years later. He never lost his passion for the job whether it was the satisfaction of making a big sale or catching up with a customer that he hadn’t seen in a while.
Howard played baseball and curling while he was growing up and his love for those sports always stayed with him. He enjoyed nothing more than watching his sons, and then later his grandsons, play the various sports they loved. Whether it was soccer, hockey, curling, basketball or swimming, Howard was always keen to watch and get involved. He took on the community sports coordinator role for 4 years after which he started coaching soccer. He coached Scott for many years and then continued on to coach his grandsons. He was forced to take a hiatus from curling as his sons’ activities eventually kept him busy but he jumped right back in later in life. He curled in the Crestwood and Jasper Place seniors leagues up until his last year.
One of Howard’s other loves was going camping and there were many great camping trips with the tent trailer in western Canada when the boys were young. Many evenings were spent sitting around a campfire with the hope of wrapping up the day having a smokie cooked over the fire. Always knowing that Betty was going to complain about the campfire smoke…
Dad was always generous with his time, whether helping the kids out with home projects, coaching or volunteering with St. Vincent de Paul food hamper distribution.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Betty, who so lovingly cared for him through his battle with cancer; his children, Kevin (Shannon), Wayne (Cathy) & Scott (Anne-Marie); 7 grandsons, Kieran, Andrew, Ryan, Christopher, Brendan, Jonas and Samuel. Howard is also survived by his siblings, Richard (Theresa), Joyce (Earl) Allen, Marlene (Neil) Glebe, Jack and Larry (Donna); as well as in-laws, Walter Long, Phyllis LaChance, Ken Long, Eunice (Wim) Fritsma, Maureen (John) Colistro, Chuck (Maria) Long, Dolores (Ken) Scott and Bob (Maureen) Long. Howard was predeceased by his parents, Russel & Adelia.
The family would like to extend our thanks to Dr. Sawyer and the staff of the Cross Cancer Institute for the wonderful and compassionate care that they provided to Howard.
A Funeral Mass will be held for immediate family.
A Celebration of Howard’s life will be scheduled at a later date for everyone to attend.
Memorial donations may be made to the Cross Cancer Institute (through the Alberta Cancer Foundation: giving.albertacancer.ca/donate/cancer-centres) or to Crestwood Curling Club (contact crestwoodcurling@shaw.ca for donation instructions).
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Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Howard George Kennedy 2020..
Décès pour la Ville: Edmonton, Province: Alberta